Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/99540
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD The Wolong Panda Training Base in Sichuan, China, released a series of photos to China Daily in October to mark the graduation from captivity, and into the wild, of the 2-year-old Tao Tao. Sure enough, Tao Tao and his mother, Cao Cao, were shown frolicking in the woods, accompanied by trainers each dressed in full-length panda suits, including panda heads, as they appeared to demonstrate climbing trees and searching for food. [China Daily, 10-10-2012] The Entrepreneurial Spirit At the recently opened Soineya "cuddle cafe" in Tokyo, men buy hugging privileges (but no "sex" allowed!) with young women for from 20 minutes to 10 hours at prices (gratuity optional) ranging from the equivalents of $40 to $645, with surcharges for special services (e.g., foot massages, resting heads in each other's laps). The Deluxe Comfort Girlfriend Body Pillow, which began as a boutique-only niche product, recently Chuck Sheppard became available at Amazon.com and Sears.com at around $25. The bolster-like, cuddling-enabled pillow is augmented with two strategically placed mounds and a snuggle-up arm hanging to the side. (There's also an Original Soft and Comfy Boyfriend Pillow, without the mounds.) [Japan Today, 103-2012] [Huffington Post, 10-25-2012] "You have wrinkles," the inquiring customer was told, "and your left cheek is larger than your right," explained "Tata," the Bangkok-born woman who recently opened a salon in San Francisco to employ the supposedly traditional Thai art of face-slapping. Frown lines and droopy skin are curable with a 10-minute regimen of wellplaced whacks across the cheek (and payment of the $350 fee), Tata told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in October. Masochists are warned that Tata deals in therapy, not punishment. "If you want someone to hit you, go on Craigslist." [Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10-22-2012] Cutting-Edge Science Among the "Ig Nobel" prizes awarded to earnest academics in September by the Annals of Improbable Research was the one to Patrick Warren and colleagues who delved into excruciatingly detailed predictions (at the behest of a cosmetics firm) about how someone might ultimately look with a ponytail, based on hair characteristics. The team took into account the stiffness of the strands, the effects of gravity and the random curliness or waviness in the hair in a set formula to compute a "Rapunzel Number" for each head. Explaining his particularized work to reporters, Dr. Warren acknowledged (perhaps with underestimation), "I've been working on this for a long time." [BBC News, 9-21-2012] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of December 23, 2012 ARIES (March 21-April 19) Your heart is open, and people will be compelled to share their stories with you in detail. Don't ask a question if you don't have time to listen to the answer. Also be aware that listening is its own kind of special gift, so it's not always necessary to offer an answer or a solution. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) It's best not to force yourself to be consistently productive this week. Your pure creativity has an ebb and flow. The flurry of activity when the moon is in your sign at the beginning of the week will come to a natural pause over the weekend, bringing an ideal moment for reflection. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) You know so much about people in general that you may find it challenging to see each one as an individual. This week's lesson is about letting go of expectations and experiencing people as they really are. When you assume nothing, you can get to the truth quickly and act on that knowledge. CANCER (June 22-July 22) Getting things done requires a certain amount of force. With people, force isn't the most effective way to make things happen. The world of emotions, identity, intellect and belief holds much more powerful tools and methods. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Leos have an inner showman. Many rules of entertainment will apply this week. For instance, the show must go on. Also, mistakes can be entertaining and a delight to your audience — if you commit to them. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) The world of business will soon open up to you. You can relax in this knowledge and take the next few days to creatively recharge. Stay in the moment and let it gift you with many wonders. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Try to stay openminded and you'll succeed to a great degree in this regard. With a certain amount of detachment, you will think and perceive the world clearly in the present instead of reacting to triggers that originated long ago. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) Your life has little to do with luck. You've worked for what you have, and usually the work was hard, smart and consistent. You'll get a break, and for that you really will feel lucky! SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) You'll need a fair assessment of your work in order to know your chances of success. An enthusiastic supporter is not going to help in this regard. You need the truth. Get the lowdown from someone who has taken the same kinds of risks you're taking now. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Just as many smaller countries tend to be neutral in world politics, those who can offer little help or harm will stay out of an argument and hope for the best. For the most part, this will be a peaceful week. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Whatever you do, you'll do it all the way. If the endeavor isn't worthy, your precious time and energy will be wasted, which is much worse to you than a financial repercussion would be. But a worthy undertaking will bring happiness to many. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) If you're really ready to make a change, help yourself out. If you know something (or someone) is bad for you, make it so that thing or person is impossibly out of reach. As one of your sign mates suggested, "Most people would like to be delivered from temptation, but would like it to keep in touch." Robert Orben By Holiday Mathis On the 12th day of Christmas, my family gave to me 12 yards of wrapping paper, 11 flattened boxes, 10 greeting cards, 9 gift receipts, 8 aluminum drink cans, 7 newspaper sales inserts, 6 orange juice bottles, 5 metal cans, 4 feet of aluminum foil, 3 plastic milk jugs, 2 after-holiday sales advertising and 1 fresh-cut Christmas tree! All of these items can be recycled! Happy Holidays from the City of Fayetteville Environmental Services Dept. For more information on recycling please go to www.cityoffayetteville.org/curbside NO GARBAGE OR YARD WASTE PICKUP ON CHRISTMAS OR NEW YEAR'S DAY Garbage & yard waste pickup 12/26 and 1/2; Recycling on 12/29 and 1/1 ADVICE GODDESS Unlucky in Shove My husband was a heavy-drinking, drug-taking skirt-chaser who worked only sporadically, so I divorced him three years ago. He quit drinking and drugs, renounced skirt chasing, and was constantly professing his love for me, so I took him back on the condition that he contributes financially. He soon started behaving badly. He does no housework, misuses my tools and appliances, and never buys anything or replaces things he breaks, including major appliances. When I bring up an issue, he talks loudly and nonsensically over me. I now say nothing until things get outrageous — like when he inspects my dinner plate to make sure I don't have more food than he does. (If he feels shortchanged, he'll reach into my food and help himself!) One Sunday, he disappeared, later claiming he was with a female coworker and, supposedly, her husband. Yesterday, he retreated to my closet to talk to another woman on the phone while I prepared dinner. Upon emerging, he complained his food was cold. He sees nothing wrong with his behavior, and I'm not supposed to question any of it. Is this relationship worth trying to save? — Upset You only mention emotional abuse, but like a woman Amy Alkon who's always "falling down the stairs" and giving herself a black eye, you've probably been living for scraps — the declarations of love between the abuse, or the declarations you used to get. This has you asking the entirely wrong question, "Is this relationship worth trying to save?" The essential question (about this or any relationship) is "Does this person make me feel happy — and loved?" And in this case, the answer to that question is another question: "Hey, anybody know anybody who delivers moving boxes 24/7?" As you've seen, denying reality doesn't make it go away; it allows ugly behavior to become "the new normal" — until you find yourself wondering whether to get a second phone line and an outlet for a hotplate installed in the closet. You point yourself toward happier times by being honest about the relationship you have instead of pretending it's the relationship you want. This takes accepting that being human means being prone to emotionally-driven errors in judgment — in this case, maybe because you are longing for love, are loath to admit to another failed romantic investment, and dread being alone. Of course, as I've written before, there's nothing lonelier than feeling alone while in a relationship with somebody else — especially somebody who claims to love you and then shows it by bringing absolutely nothing to the table but a finely-calibrated scale. Amy Alkon all rights reserved. DECEMBER 19-25, 2012 UCW 27